This article first appeared in the June, 2016 edition of SportsCar Magazine. SCCA members can read the current and past editions of SportCar digitally here after logging into their account; To become an SCCA member and get SportsCar mailed to your home address monthly in addition to the digital editions, click here.

16-year-old Max Nufer has his sights on the track, and he’s making all the right moves

As someone who is relatively new to the SCCA family, Maximilian “Max” Nufer is well aware that he has a lot of people to thank for the progress he’s experienced in his motorsports career. Named St. Louis Region’s 2015 Rookie of the Year, the now 16-year-old Nufer begins his sophomore year in Spec Miata competition as he closes out his sophomore year at Christian Brothers College High School, a highly regarded college prep institution.

“I’m currently in AP World History, Honors Chemistry, Honors Geometry, and Pre-AP English. I also take French, and I’m in Business Communications,” he explains. The latter, he adds, “is actually a great class, because it teaches you the fundamentals – it goes hand-in-hand with writing sponsorship proposals and talking to people, which is important for racing, which is why I elected to take the class in the first place.”

Last year, in addition to participating in the National Championship Runoffs presented by Garmin VIRB at Daytona International Speedway, where he finished a very respectable 14th in a field of 62 during a damp, night race, Nufer recorded three Spec Miata Regional wins, finished seventh in a field of 40 at the Chicago Region June Sprints, claimed third in Midwest Division’s Spec Miata Mid-Am series, and was named St. Louis Region’s Spec Miata champion. Not bad for a driver who wasn’t eligible for his regular driver’s license until late in the racing season.

“I’ve been interested in motorsports, probably, since the day I was born,” he says. “I was first introduced to racing when I was 4 years old, passing by a local kart track. A month later, my parents purchased my first go-kart, and I progressed through the ranks of karting over the years.”

Although Nufer became an SCCA member just last year, the Club wasn’t totally unfamiliar to him or his family, which also includes a 14-year-old brother, Nicholas, who himself is an accomplished kart racer. Both of his parents are engineers, Nufer explains, and “my dad used to race Showroom Stock GT in the SCCA in the 1990s; so he firmly believed the SCCA would be a great place to compete,” Nufer says, adding that his parents “have made many sacrifices” so that he and his brother can race.

As for his introduction last year to the SCCA and Spec Miata, Nufer says that among the long list of SCCA members to whom he is indebted are St. Louis Region members Peter Zekert and Dan Miklovic, who approved his request for a full competition license so he could participate in the 2015 U.S. Majors Tour. Zekert, St. Louis RE and Area 6 Director, and Miklovic, Midwest Division Executive Steward, sat Nufer down for an extended face-to-face interview before approving his request.

“Working with Max Nufer and his entire family was a pure joy,” Zekert says. “I wish we had more racing families like the Nufers. Max is a great person – smart and mature – and he’s excited to make his way up the ladder in this sport.”

Also on Nufer’s list of helping hands are David Cook and John Doonan from Mazda Motorsports, Spec Miata racers Steve and Tom Scheifler, “who have spent long hours on the dyno with my car, helped with suspension, and welcomed us into the Spec Miata community,” and all of the East Street Racing Team.

“The general atmosphere of being at a track – competing – is an experience like no other,” Nufer says. “I enjoy the competition and the challenge to push myself harder, to gain that extra tenth or two. Looking at my data from a session and talking to fellow competitors about where I can improve is just fun, because I can see the results immediately. Having the opportunity to be racing a car is something I have extreme gratitude for.”

Nufer adds that he has found Spec Miata competition “fierce but fair,” and he believes it has made him a better driver. “I learned that while I'm younger than most of my fellow Spec Miata racers, they treat me with respect and are always willing to share ideas on what I can do to go faster,” he says, pointing to the help he received at the Runoffs from Mazda factory driver Tom Long. “He went over my data with me, and because of his help, I picked up a lot of time and felt more confident about racing at night,” Nufer says.

As to the future, yes, Nufer has his eyes on the Mazda Road to 24 and a professional career. In the meantime, he says, he plans “to continue to work hard in school [and] be accepted in a top university, where I can get an engineering degree that would complement my driving experience.”

“Max Nufer represents the future of SCCA racing,” observes Milkovic. “He is focused, driven, and the consummate gentleman driver, all the more surprising given the face he started to race at just age 15. He has demonstrated that young drivers can be highly competitive without being overly aggressive. I look forward to seeing just how far he goes in our sport.”

Words by James Heine
Images Courtest of the Nufer Family